


Hike into My Heart

by clexawarrior



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cabinmates, Christmas AU, Christmas Tree, Drama, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Hiking, Light Angst, Romance, Snowball Fight, Writer!Lexa, artist!Clarke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:58:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8905951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clexawarrior/pseuds/clexawarrior
Summary: Clarke and her friends decide to take a trip to the mountains of Polis over winter break, but Clarke is less than thrilled with the girl that she is sharing a cabin with. Based on this tumblr prompt: Clarke decides to take some time off, but… her plans start to go wrong when she needs to share a tiny house in the woods with this rude woman that only wanted to stay away from people.





	1. The Short Straw

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw a prompt on tumblr and was inspired to write this little winter/Christmas AU. It will be short, only six chapters, but I hope that you will all enjoy it! Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this! <3

Clarke set her suitcase down and flopped back onto her bed, feeling tired after the two-hour car drive that she had just taken with Octavia and Raven. It wasn't that she hadn't enjoyed being in the car with her friends, but two hours was a bit of a long time to be cooped up in the car. The blonde was just glad that they were finally here.

The three of them had decided to spend a week in the mountains of Polis for winter break to get away from everyday life for a while. It was kind of a last-minute decision, brought up by Raven two weeks ago on a whim. Clarke and Octavia had been quick to agree to go, and they were lucky to find that there were still four spots left: one full cabin, and two other cabins that had one room left. They all wanted their own rooms, but none of them wanted to share their cabin with a stranger, so they decided to draw straws. Clarke had drawn the short straw, meaning that she would be sharing a cabin with someone she didn't know for a week, while Octavia and Raven got to share the one next door.

Clarke supposed that it could have been worse, though. At least, she and her cabinmate had their own room. She probably wouldn't even see this cabinmate much because she planned to spend most of her time at her friends' cabin anyway.

The soft quilt that was now beneath Clarke felt warm against her cold skin, and she was tempted to just crawl under the covers and take a nap while she waited for Octavia and Raven to get settled into their rooms. Clarke knew that she should probably get settled as well, but she was more of the type of person who unpacked items as she needed them. She was fine with waiting, but she didn't want to fall asleep because she was afraid that she might not hear her phone go off if she did that. Since she had a bit of free time, she decided that she might as well go across the hall to introduce herself to the person that she would be living with for the next week.

Clarke knocked on the wood and waited for an answer for several long seconds. She was just starting to wonder if maybe her cabinmate was not in their room when the door opened, and Clarke's eyes widened in surprise when she saw a beautiful girl appear. Clarke had not even considered the fact that the stranger she'd be living with might possibly be so stunning to look at. Her long brown hair fell in loose curls over her shoulder, and her eyes were a nice jade green.

Clarke stuck her hand out for the brunette to shake before she had a chance to say something stupid. "I'm Clarke. I guess I'll be your cabinmate for the next week."

The brunette didn't take the outstretched hand, instead shaking her head as her pretty green eyes widened in what appeared to be horror. "No. You can't be staying here with me. Anya said that no one else would likely rent this out on such short notice." Her eyes hardened a little. "Damn it. I knew I should have paid the extra fifty bucks to upgrade to a private stay."

Needless to say, Clarke was very confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I rented this cabin specifically to get away from people for a while," the brunette explained. "I really can't have you messing this up for me, so you need to leave."

Clarke's face settled in a scowl, shocked at the way that she was being treated. "I can't leave. I've already paid and everything."

"I don't care," the girl snarled. "Get. Out."

Anger bubbled up inside of Clarke. It was completely unfair of this girl to be so cruel to her, and she was seriously losing her patience. "I'll leave you alone in your room, but I'm not leaving this cabin. I have just as much of a right to stay here as you do, so you can either deal with it, or you can be the one to leave."

The brunette's jaw clenched, and there was a dangerous look in those green eyes, but she did not respond, slamming the door in Clarke's face instead. The blonde had the serious urge to punch that girl, and she took deep breaths to try and calm herself down before she went in there and started a screaming match. She knew that she would be going over to see her friends soon, but she felt like it would take much more than that for her to forget about her awful cabinmate. She forced herself to turn away from the door, walking back into her own room to wait for a text from Raven. This was going to be one hell of a week.

* * *

When Clarke arrived at Octavia and Raven's cabin, she was pulled into Octavia's room, where she now sat cross-legged on the bed with her friends. They seemed really happy to be here, and Clarke couldn't help but be bitter that she hadn't gotten to room with either one of them. Even though she hadn't seen her cabinmate since the girl had slammed the door in her face, she still couldn't shake her anger with the brunette, and she cursed herself for picking that stupid short straw.

She listened to Octavia and Raven gush about how excited they were and how nice their cabin was, and Clarke agreed. The cabins were spacious and pretty homey inside. It was just the girl across the hall from her that made it less impressive. When her friends finally asked Clarke about her cabin, she was more than ready to tell them about her lovely cabinmate. "I mean, the cabin's really nice, but the girl I'm living with isn't. When I tried to introduce myself to her, she told me that she didn't want anyone else living with her, and then she slammed the door in my face."

"Wow, that bites," Raven said. "I'd offer for you to share my room, but I want the room to myself."

Octavia shot her own cabinmate a reproachful look before turning back to Clarke. "You can share with me, if it gets too bad."

"That's okay," Clarke said. "I know that you want the room to yourself, too. That was kind of the point of us drawing straws anyway. I'll deal with it. I can always just ignore her."

"And let her win?" Raven arched an eyebrow. "Seriously? She was rude to you. Don't let her get away with it."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Clarke asked exasperatedly.

"Throw a party or something," Raven suggested. "We can come over and be extra loud to make her mad and show her who's boss. Let her know that you're not going to take her shit and that she might actually have to talk to you like an adult if she wants you to be respectful to her."

"I don't know, Raven," Octavia said carefully. "That sounds kind of extreme. Maybe Clarke should just ignore her like she was going to. That way, you guys don't start anything with her."

Clarke almost didn't even hear her, already smiling at Raven's idea. "She already started something when she slammed the door in my face. I really like the sound of a party, Raven."

"See? Clarke likes it, O," Raven said with a cheeky grin. "Two against one. Are you in?"

Octavia shrugged reluctantly. "I guess I don't want you to go by yourselves."

That was how Clarke found herself back in her cabin, surrounded by her friends as the three of them talked and laughed obnoxiously loudly. When they didn't get a rise out of Clarke's cabinmate, Raven hooked her phone up to her portable speakers and blasted Christmas music at top volume. Clarke laughed even louder when Raven turned on a football game and started cheering loudly for the team. Clarke knew that her cabinmate would be down in a matter of minutes with how loud they were being now.

"Touchdown!" Raven yelled at the top of her lungs. Clarke and Octavia added their loud cheering to the mix as well, and that was when they heard a loud bang from upstairs that could have only been a door, followed by angry footsteps that were getting closer by the second.

"Here she comes," Clarke told her friends quietly. "Be ready to get bitched at."

Clarke's cabinmate appeared at the bottom of the stairs, and Clarke thought that the brunette appeared to be fuming. It didn't even take her two seconds to explode on the three girls who were sitting on the couch. "What the hell are you doing?"

Clarke made an obvious show of looking at the TV before her eyes turned back to the brunette. "We're watching football. What does it look like we're doing?"

"Being loud and obnoxious," the girl fired back, looking like she was trembling with fury. "Turn that awful music off, and for the love of God, _stop_ yelling."

Clarke wanted to laugh at the other girl's anger, but instead she decided to tease her further.

"You don't like Christmas?" she asked in a mock-offended tone.

"What are you? The Grinch?" Raven added, causing laughter to escape from Clarke's lips.

The girl growled furiously, shaking her head at the three friends, before she stormed out the door, not even bothering to grab a jacket on her way out. Clarke found that to be more than a little odd because it was snowing outside, but she didn't really care at all.

"You're right, Rae. She's definitely the Grinch," Clarke agreed with her friend.

"I can see that. It really blows that you got stuck with someone like that." Raven finally tore her gaze away from the door. "It's a shame that she's such a bitch. She's cute."

"Maybe we're being a little too hard on her," Octavia spoke up.

"More like she's being too hard on us," Clarke said immediately, and Raven snickered in agreement.

Octavia looked like she might be starting to regret what they had done this evening, but Clarke knew that that was just how the other girl was. Octavia was always the first one to care about others, and she was always the one who kept Clarke and Raven out of trouble. Clarke was just glad that Octavia hadn't tried harder to stop her and Raven tonight, and she was kind of surprised that the other girl had agreed to take part in this at all. The blonde supposed it was because they weren't actually getting into any real trouble. Clarke's cabinmate deserved everything that she had gotten tonight, and Clarke didn't regret any of it.


	2. An Almost Civil Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the first few chapters of this story are really short, I will be updating daily for a little bit. I am hoping to make the latter half of the chapters a bit longer, but even so, I promise I won't take long in between updates. Thank you for the bookmarks and kudos that this story has already recerived, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story as it progresses!

The next morning, Clarke was sitting on the couch, eating cereal and watching _Looney Tunes_ on Cartoon Network when she heard someone descending the stairs. She rolled her eyes in annoyance because there was only one person that it could be. She honestly had the urge to get up and walk out the door right then and there, but she decided to just stay and finish her breakfast. Her awful cabinmate strolled into the room seconds later, not even acknowledging Clarke as she immediately went into the kitchen. Not even two seconds later, she was already complaining. "Do you seriously have to leave your stuff all over the countertop? You know, we do have cabinets here."

"Listen…" Clarke trailed off, realizing that she didn't even know this girl's name. She thought about calling her Grinch, but she was too curious. "You never told me your name."

"Yes. You don't know my name because I don't want you talking to me," the brunette snapped.

"I guess I'll just have to call you Grinch, then," Clarke said nonchalantly. "If you're sure that you can't tell me what your actual name is."

"Fine." The girl rolled her eyes. "It's Lexa."

"Lexa," Clarke tried the name out for herself. "That's actually a really pretty name."

The brunette looked taken aback by the compliment, almost as if she had never heard that before. Clarke found that to be surprising because Lexa was such a beautiful name. She would think that someone would have complimented her on it before. Clarke supposed that the lack of compliments probably had something to do with Lexa's personality.

"Thanks, I guess," Lexa finally said, looking much less angry than she previously had. In fact, she looked almost shy.

Clarke didn't think that she could resist the chance to tease this girl, so she patted the space beside her. "Why don't you come and sit by me?"

Green eyes hardened again, like she was getting ready to argue, but the fire went out after a few seconds, and the girl seemed to relax. "Can I have some of your cereal? I really love Froot Loops."

Clarke shrugged, a little surprised. "Take some."

She had been intending to ask rude questions to make the other girl mad, but now she wondered if they might be able to become acquaintances. Maybe, if Clarke was nice to the girl, then Lexa would be nice to her, and they could just stay out of each other's way from now on without yelling at one another.

After grabbing her cereal, Lexa plopped down on the couch beside Clarke, and they sat together in silence, their attention fixed on the screen in front of them where _Looney Tunes_ was still playing. Clarke found it hard to focus on the cartoon, though, because she was hyperaware of the fact that a girl who she didn't even know was sitting next to her, eating cereal, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Lexa didn't seem bothered in the slightest by this fact, her eyes firmly fixed on the screen. She seemed to have forgotten that Clarke was even present at all. The blonde wondered if she should just leave Lexa be, but she found that she couldn't stand the silence, so she decided to go ahead and make small talk. "So, did you watch _Looney Tunes_ when you were younger, too?"

Lexa nodded, finally bringing her eyes away from the screen to rest on Clarke. "My sister and I used to love this show. Our mom watched it with us a lot."

"My dad used to watch it with me. He loved it, too, and he used to try to mimic the voices for me." Clarke shook her head with a fond smile on her face. "He still does the voices from time to time."

Just like that Lexa's smile was gone, and Clarke had no idea what she had said wrong. She thought about asking, but she stopped herself just in time, not wanting to come off as rude. She had been rude enough to this girl already, what with how loud she and her friends had been last night. She was coming to realize that what she had done hadn't been as great of an idea as she had originally thought, but she had just been tired and angry at Lexa for slamming the door in her face. Octavia was probably right, though. Lexa seemed to be easily irritated, and they probably were a bit too hard on her.

"Sorry about the impromptu party last night," Clarke finally said. "My friends live in the cabin right next door, and we were meant to be hanging out there, but I was just mad at you for the way you had treated me. My friend said I shouldn't let you get away with acting like a bitch, and so we were being loud and annoying on purpose."

Lexa didn't respond, and Clarke realized that she had probably sounded rude towards the end of her apology. She hadn't meant to, and she was just about to try to amend her words when Lexa finally spoke again. "Well, I am glad to hear that you are not normally that loud. I'm here so that I can work on the novel that I am writing, and it is next to impossible for me to focus when you guys are screaming and blasting music downstairs. That is why I was hoping that no one would rent the other room in this cabin."

"Sorry, but my friends and I planned this a little last minute, and this cabin worked out perfectly for me because they're staying right next door."

Lexa raised an eyebrow at her, in a way that looked slightly challenging. "Why could you not have shared a room with one of your friends?"

Clarke let out an exasperated sigh, rolling her eyes at the brunette. "Because, everyone wanted their own room, me included. We already share a room in college. Is it really so bad having me around?"

"Kind of," Lexa replied stiffly, "but I suppose that I will have to live with it."

Clarke didn't know what had gone wrong in their conversation. Only moments ago, they had been acting like they might be able to be friends, but now, the two of them were right back to square one. It seemed like they would soon be yelling at each other again if someone did not concede. Clarke decided to let it be her. "I'll probably spend most of my time with my friends, anyway. You won't even know I'm here."

"Good." Lexa turned her attention back to the screen, and Clarke knew that that meant the conversation was over. She felt her anger rising again, but she pushed it back down, not wanting to deal with the other girl anymore. Maybe, the two of them just weren't meant to get along. She supposed it was at least nice that she knew the other girl's name now and that they had actually managed to have a civil conversation, even though it had only lasted for a few seconds. Perhaps, she needed to make sure that any future conversations never lasted long.

She quickly finished the rest of her cereal before rinsing her bowl out and leaving it in the sink. She knew that Lexa would more than likely hate that, but the brunette could put it in the dishwasher herself if it bothered her so much. Clarke was supposed to meet her friends five minutes ago.

* * *

When Clarke returned to her cabin that night, she found that it was completely silent, probably just the way that Lexa liked it. It made Clarke want to turn the TV on and crank the volume up extra loud, but she restrained herself. She wanted to at least be civil with her cabinmate, but she was still a little angry with Lexa about what had happened earlier. Clarke had only been trying to apologize, and Lexa had found a way to remind the blonde that she didn't want her around. Clarke didn't understand why she couldn't have gotten a cabinmate who wasn't a complete jerk.

A tiny blue sticky note caught her eyes when she got to the second floor. It was taped to Lexa's door, and Clarke moved closer because she was sure that it hadn't been there before. The brunette must have put it up when Clarke was out with her friends. It was clearly for the blonde, if the written "Clark" at the top was anything to go by. She scowled at the sight of her misspelled name. Why did everyone always spell her name wrong? She was starting to think that no one on the planet spelled Clarke the way that she did anymore because everyone she met always spelled it without an _e_ on the end. She was honestly getting a little tired of it. After a few moments, she finally managed to push her irritation aside in order to read past the first word.

_Clark,_

_I have gone out for a hike and shall not be returning for a few hours. Don't bother waiting up for me for dinner._

_-L_

Clarke scoffed. The tone of the note sounded rude to her, and she wondered if it might have had a different tone if she had never spoken to the girl who wrote it. She knew that Lexa had probably only gone out to avoid being here when Clarke returned, and the blonde couldn't help but scoff again. As if she would wait up for this girl for dinner. She couldn't think of anything that she wanted to do less. The two of them might have been living together, but they clearly weren't friends. Besides, Clarke had already eaten dinner with Octavia and Raven.

She shrugged off her annoyance. She had been in a good mood earlier from hanging out with her friends, and she wasn't about to let Lexa's stupid little note ruin it. Shaking her head, she backed away from the door and headed in the direction of the bathroom, peeling her clothes from her body, to take a nice warm shower.


	3. O Christmas Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Clarke spent the next day helping Octavia and Raven set up a Christmas tree in their house and decorate it. They offered to come over and set one up for Clarke, too, but she declined, feeling a bit tired and not really wanting to go through the hassle of setting up another tree. However, the minute that she was out of her friends' cabin, she knew that there was no possible way that she could spend Christmas in her cabin without a Christmas tree.

In that moment, she was glad that she had been the one to bring the axe, otherwise she would've had to alert her friends to what she was doing by going back into their cabin to get it. If they knew about her wish for a tree, she knew that they wouldn't hesitate to help her find one and decorate it. While that would have been great under any normal circumstances, she didn't want to piss her cabinmate off again with the noise that they would surely be making, so she set off to find a tree herself.

When she reached the place where Octavia and Raven had found their tree, Clarke selected a smaller one that had been growing nearby. It was only chest-high, but she knew that it would definitely do. She didn't think that she'd be able to bring back anything much bigger alone. Plus, she didn't want Lexa to complain about how the tree was taking up the whole room. So, she cut down the small tree and began to drag it back to her cabin.

When Clarke got back inside, she was surprised to see Lexa sitting in the living room and reading a book, a fire burning in the fireplace. The brunette looked up when Clarke walked through the door, eyes widening when she saw what Clarke had with her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm setting up this Christmas tree," Clarke explained. "I know you don't like Christmas, but I brought ornaments and lights and stuff, so I'm going to set it up anyway."

The blonde honestly did not want to deal with another argument with Lexa right now, so she decided to leave no room for argument, immediately moving to her bag that was still on the kitchen counter and grabbing the Christmas tree stand that she had brought. To her surprise, Lexa actually did not argue as Clarke set up the tree in the corner. Once it was standing, to her satisfaction, she grabbed the box of lights and ornaments that was also still sitting on the counter. She knew that Lexa had asked her to at least put the stuff in cabinets yesterday, but Clarke hadn't listened, relishing in the fact that her disorganization was probably driving Lexa insane.

"So, I thought you were working on the next Great American Novel." Clarke finally broke the silence as she strung up the lights. "Why are you out here reading?"

"I take breaks, Clarke," Lexa answered simply. "Besides, it was nice and quiet in here, and I wanted to sit by the fire."

"Oh." Clarke didn't know what else to say, so she just stayed silent after that. That had been a very normal thing for her cabinmate to say, and there had been no bite to the other girl's tone. Clarke found it strange, and she wondered if maybe Lexa had finally come to terms with the fact that Clarke wasn't leaving. The blonde certainly hoped so.

Once she had finished with the lights, she was working on putting up the ornaments when she saw Lexa come up beside her. She was a little confused as to what her cabinmate was doing, but her confusion quickly morphed into surprise when she saw Lexa reach into the box to grab an ornament in an almost shy manner before hanging it on the tree. Lexa then turned questioning green eyes on Clarke, seeming to ask if it was okay that she was helping, and Clarke wondered if maybe this was Lexa's attempt at a peace offering. She thought about telling the other girl off, like the brunette had basically done when Clarke had tried to apologize, but then she just sighed. She didn't want to stoop to the other girl's level, and she honestly did want to maintain some kind of acquaintanceship with Lexa if they were going to be living together. That, and she really preferred to have company while decorating, even if Lexa wasn't her first choice.

"So, you do like Christmas," Clarke finally said.

"I never said that I didn't like Christmas." Lexa reached into the box to grab another ornament. "I did not like the volume that your music was being played at, not the fact that it was Christmas music."

"Well, it's nice to know that you don't hate the holidays," Clarke said with a smile.

She almost fell over in surprise when Lexa gave a tiny smile back. "I'm sorry that I was so rude to you before. It's just…I've never really been that good with people. I was practically raised by my sister, and I've never really had too many friends. Maybe we could sort of be friends?"

Clarke's eyebrows shot up at that. She wanted to nod in answer to Lexa's question, but she was too curious as to why Lexa's sister had raised her. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep from blurting out the questions that she wanted to ask, not wanting to upset this tentative peace that had settled between them. She remembered how weird Lexa had gotten when Clarke had talked about her father the previous day, and she now wondered if that had been because Lexa's father was dead. But what about her mother?

Clarke's brain was whirring with questions, and she didn't know how to stop them from forming without asking for answers. It seemed that she didn't need to, though, because Lexa had clearly picked up on the direction that Clarke's thoughts had taken in her silence. "You're wondering what happened to my parents, right?"

Clarke grimaced at the fact that she had been caught, wishing that she was more successful at hiding her thoughts, but she never had been. She knew there was no way to take back what Lexa already knew, so she nodded in answer.

"My mom died when I was nine," Lexa said, matter-of-factly. "That's why I closed up again when you mentioned your father yesterday. You were talking about the things your dad has done ever since you were little, and I guess I was just jealous because my mom is no longer here to do anything with me anymore." Lexa tried to give Clarke another small smile, but the blonde could tell that it wasn't completely genuine. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You had no control over your dad staying alive while my mother died, and I can't blame you for that."

"What about your father?" Clarke asked curiously.

Lexa's face darkened a bit, and the blonde wondered if she should not have asked. "My dad was overcome with grief when my mom died. He started getting drunk all the time, and he wasn't the same man after. It was like he turned into a hollow shell of himself without her. He still loved me and Anya, of course, but I guess we weren't enough for him to really want to take care of himself. We normally ended up having to take care of him, but it was unfair, really. I was only nine, and Anya was fourteen, and it was probably even harder on her than it was on me. He's finally trying to get better now, though. He's at a rehab facility, but it feels like it's too late."

Clarke was surprised that Lexa hadn't even shed a tear throughout the entire tale. Every time Clarke noticed tears build up, they were quickly blinked away. "It's never too late, Lexa. At least, he is making an effort to get better now. May I ask what happened to your mother?"

"I suppose so." Lexa let out a long sigh. "She was at a restaurant one night with a friend, and the place got robbed. The thief shot a lot of people in the process, and my mother didn't make it out alive."

Clarke reached out a hand in order to rub Lexa's back in an attempt to soothe the girl, but she thought better of it before she could. She dropped her hand awkwardly back down to her side because she didn't want to accidentally make things worse. She barely even knew this brunette. Lexa did not miss the motion, though, standing up straighter as she shook away the memories. "I'm okay now, though. I mean, this happened over ten years ago. I've had plenty of time to get over it. I just don't like to be reminded of it."

Clarke didn't really believe Lexa's words. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose her mom, especially so young, but she knew that she would most likely never truly get over that. She didn't push, though, not wanting to force Lexa to talk about something that she clearly did not like to.

"Is that what made you want to become a writer?" Clarke asked instead. "A need to escape?"

Lexa shook her head. "I've always been fascinated by stories, Clarke. I loved to read, and even write a little, long before my mom passed away."

"Good," Clarke said. "You're clearly not as bad as I thought you were, so how about we just forget the last two days ever happened and start over."

Lexa nodded. "I'd like that, Clarke."

Now that she didn't completely hate the brunette, Clarke found that she really liked the way that Lexa said her name, the click that her cabinmate made on the _k_. Thinking of her name, Clarke was reminded of the sticky note from the previous night. "I saw your note last night, and you spelled my name wrong. It's C-l-a-r-k-e. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Thank you, Clarke," Another small smile graced Lexa's lips. "My apologies."

The blonde couldn't help but smile as well, as she continued to decorate the tree. She was beginning to think that maybe she had brought too many ornaments, but her family just had so many to choose from. She had wanted to bring more than enough because her parents had way more than they needed, and she knew that it was better to be prepared to share, just in case Octavia or Raven had forgotten to bring any.

After a few moments, Clarke noticed her cabinmate freeze up out of the corner of her eye, and she shot her a questioning glance. It was then that she noticed the ornament that Lexa held in her hands. A custom ornament with a picture of a younger Clarke smiling at the camera with her parents on either side. She wanted to kick herself for not taking that ornament out of the box after what Lexa had just told her, but she had honestly forgotten that she had even packed it. She gently pulled it out of Lexa's hands and placed it back in the box, thinking that her cabinmate would probably not like to see that one on the tree, even though it was one of Clarke's favorites.

"I'm sorry, Lexa. Maybe this wasn't the best activity for us to do together," Clarke admitted. "We can do whatever you want to do tomorrow. You seem to like hiking, so how about we go out for a hike?"

"You wish to accompany me on a hike?" Lexa asked with surprised green eyes.

"Sure. I want to be an artist, so maybe I can get some ideas for a new drawing out there. Besides, you said that you wanted to try to be friends, and I think that hanging out together would be a good place to start."

Lexa smiled brightly, and Clarke really liked the way that her eyes lit up with happiness. She was surprised when she found herself wanting to get her sketchbook right then and there, this wide smile on her cabinmate's face seeming much more beautiful to her than the nature scenes that she usually sketched. She found that feeling to be a weird one, but it was certainly not unwelcome. It would be much better for her to get along with her cabinmate than to constantly be fighting with her.

"I think that I would like to have you as a friend," Lexa finally said.

Clarke smiled back at her. "I'm glad you think so."

Lexa nodded to her, and the blonde was surprised when Lexa reached into the box and pulled Clarke's family ornament back out. She flashed one more smile at Clarke before hanging it on the tree.


	4. Hiking in a Winter Wonderland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry that I didn't get a chance to update for a week. I was on vacation for three days last week, and then it was Christmas, and I just didn't have a lot of time to write. I promise that updates will be more frequent now that I am back, and I will probably get this finished by the end of the week. Thank you all for being patient, and I hope that you guys enjoy this longer chapter! :)

The next day, Clarke informed her friends via text message that she would not be joining them for whatever they had planned for the day. She received the onslaught of protesting messages that she had anticipated, her friends, of course, demanding why it was she was not going to hang out that day. She thought about telling them she was sick, but she knew they would more than likely go over to her cabin to check on her, if she said that. They would see that she was not even there and catch her in her lie anyway, so she decided to tell them the truth. She was spending the day with her cabinmate, and that was that. Of course, Raven and Octavia were curious as to why Clarke would suddenly want to hang out with Lexa when she was, as Raven said, a "demon woman from hell," but Clarke just tossed her phone onto her bed and walked out the door, not wanting to deal with her friends' curiosity at the moment. So, that was how she found herself beside Lexa, walking through the forest in the snow.

Clarke had been slightly worried that Lexa wouldn't want to go through with their planned hiking trip today because she had been acting weird last night. The two of them had been sitting on the couch after dinner, watching television. They were sharing a blanket because it was cold, and neither of them had wanted to get up and go upstairs to grab another. Clarke had begun to feel tired after a while, and she had leaned her head against Lexa's shoulder to rest a bit. However, Lexa had sprung from the couch the moment Clarke did so, mumbling some excuse about how she needed to finish writing something before running off to her room. Clarke had been left downstairs to gape at the spot where Lexa had been standing only moments ago, wondering what she had done wrong.

This morning, though, Lexa had seemed fine, so Clarke just decided to ignore what had happened, the way that Lexa was. She was just happy that Lexa still wanted her to come along. The blonde was kind of confused by that feeling because she barely knew this girl, but she supposed that it couldn't hurt to get to know her a little bit better. Besides, Clarke really liked hiking, too.

The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Snow glistened on every surface, covering the mostly barren trees, and it felt as if it were just she and Lexa in a world of white. The only thing that she didn't really like was the silence, so she allowed her curiosity to get the better of her after a while. "Why do you like hiking so much?"

"It's not that I like hiking, Clarke," Lexa said as she trudged through the snow. "At least, not necessarily. You see, the protagonist in my novel enjoys this activity. I wanted to experience it firsthand so that I may write successful hiking scenes."

"Oh." Clarke's eyebrows rose up a bit in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that. "Do you always experience everything before you write about it?"

"Of course not, Clarke." Lexa looked at her like she was crazy. "It is a science fiction novel. It would be impossible for me to experience most of the things that my main character does."

Clarke just nodded again, even though there was no way that she could have possibly known what type of novel Lexa was working on. She wanted to, though. She wouldn't mind if Lexa wanted to tell her the entire plot, but she refrained from asking. Something told her the brunette would not want to share it with her. She knew that Lexa preferred to stay silent most of the time, especially when doing something as important to her as this seemed to be.

The silence made the sounds of the forest around them louder, in Clarke's opinion. The occasional chirp of a bird was easy to pick out, and the sound of their boots crunching in the snow sounded as loud as if they were marching on a metal floor in an empty room. When a twig cracked from somewhere to Clarke's right, she almost jumped out of her skin, afraid that it was a bear coming to rip her to pieces. She whipped around, instantly relaxing when she saw that it was only a deer. She turned to Lexa to explain her mini freak-out, and it was only then that she realized that she had grabbed onto Lexa's hand in her fright. The brunette was staring at their clasped hands with wide eyes, and she was blushing profusely. "Why are you holding my hand, Clarke?"

"That noise scared the crap out of me," Clarke said truthfully. "I thought it was a bear."

"Oh. Well, it's only a deer. I haven't seen any bears in these woods." Lexa moved her hand out of Clarke's grasp, reaching for her phone. "I'm gonna see if I can get close enough to get a good picture of it."

Clarke nodded dumbly, but she couldn't stop wondering why it had been her instinct to grab Lexa's hand when she was frightened. It wasn't as if the brunette would be able to protect her from a bear. Was it possible that she might be developing feelings for her cabinmate?

She knew that it was.

She hadn't ever dated a girl before, but she had had a few crushes on other females. Those people had never returned her feelings, though, so she hadn't bothered in pursuing them. She wondered if she might have finally met a girl who did return her feelings. She knew there was a good chance that Lexa did, judging by the way that she had blushed so hard when Clarke had taken her hand. Her reaction when Clarke had leaned against her last night only served as further proof of these likely feelings.

Should Clarke pursue Lexa then? Maybe she already had been. She had grabbed Lexa's hand a few moments ago, and the fact that she had leaned against Lexa last night said something about Clarke's feelings, too. Sure, she might have done the same thing before with Octavia and Raven, but she had known them a lot longer than three days. Besides, she hadn't gotten the same fluttery feeling in her stomach with Octavia and Raven as she had when she'd leaned against Lexa last night.

Clarke wanted to smack herself for developing a crush on her cabinmate, especially since she might never see the girl again after this. She knew that the crush was there, though, now that she had taken the time to realize it. She liked Lexa, and she honestly should have known that this was going to happen the minute she had first laid eyes on the brunette. She had thought Lexa was gorgeous, after all.

Warring emotions flew through Clarke's head. She could either ignore her feelings until she left next week, or she could try to start something with her cabinmate. She supposed that confirming Lexa's feelings for her wouldn't exactly hurt and would serve as a good first step in her decision-making process. She wanted to be sure that the other girl liked her back before she got her heart set on anything. So, she waited for Lexa to come back over to her, planning to just take her cabinmate's hand again and see how the brunette reacted. Once Lexa had finally gotten her picture and rejoined Clarke, though, the blonde chickened out, unable to bring herself to do it.

Clarke was quiet then as she continued to follow Lexa into the woods, trapped inside her own mind. She hadn't been in a relationship with anyone since high school, hadn't thought she wanted to, but now that she had met Lexa, she was starting to think that having feelings for someone, at least, might not be so bad. She just couldn't bring herself to say anything about it, which was surprising. Normally, she couldn't shut up, but now she couldn't even get the words to form in her brain. That was how she knew for sure that this was important to her.

When they reached a bridge that stretched across a small cavern, Clarke's eyes lit up with joy at the beauty of the scene in front of her. The bridge was strung with red and green Christmas lights that shone brightly in the snow around them. Clarke paused for a moment, trying to commit the scene to memory so that she could draw it later. Lexa took her hesitance as fear to cross the bridge and was quick to reassure the blonde girl. "It's okay, Clarke. I'll be right behind you the whole time. I promise I won't let you fall."

Clarke's brows immediately furrowed, and it didn't even cross her mind to tell Lexa why she had been stopping in the first place. Instead, she was now thinking about the very real possibility that the bridge might break and the fact that Lexa's reassurances didn't make any sense. "If this bridge breaks, you won't be able to save me. You'll fall with me."

Lexa only shrugged, a small smile tugging up the corners of her lips. "At least we will die together then."

Clarke couldn't even begin to fathom why Lexa was smiling as she felt her own lips turning down in a frown. "Or one of us could die on impact while the other one bleeds to death at the bottom of the canyon, alone."

Lexa's smile only grew at the statement. "You think of everything, don't you, Clarke? You have quite the imagination. Perhaps, you should consider being a writer as well."

"Nah." Clarke shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm more of the artist type."

Lexa just gave her an appreciative nod and then gestured for her to begin walking across the bridge. Clarke stepped out onto the wooden slats, hoping that she would not go plummeting to her death. She smiled when she made it to the other side, glad that the bridge had been sturdy, and then she resumed her quiet trek through the snow-covered woods with Lexa. She marveled at how Lexa could be so comfortable with the silence, and she found it weird she thought that was cute. She had never really thought silence was cute before, but it was on this girl. Lexa's little nods and her soft voice were adorable. It was also really nice how she found a way to say Clarke's name in almost every sentence whenever she did speak. Any other person might be annoyed by that, but Clarke very much liked the way that Lexa said her name, and she didn't want the other girl to stop anytime soon.

After what felt like many hours, but probably wasn't even one, the two hikers reached an overhang on the side of the mountain, where they could see a small village below that Clarke remembered passing with Octavia and Raven on their way to the cabins. The lights were on in most of the small cottages, and she could see children bundled up in heavy coats, making snow angels and snowmen down below. Clarke knew that she and Lexa must have walked a few miles to make it back to this village, and she couldn't help but be proud of herself. She never had been one for exercise.

Lexa pulled a little black notebook out of her coat before turning to Clarke. "I normally stop here to write about what I've seen. Would you mind waiting?"

"Yeah. No problem. I can just draw for a while." Clarke was quite relieved in that moment that she had decided to bring her sketchbook.

Lexa nodded, clearly pleased with Clarke's response. Then, she brushed some snow off of the top of a rock so that she could sit down. Clarke followed suit, choosing a rock that was only a few feet away before flipping to a clean page in her sketchbook. She began to draw the beautiful scene in front of her, but she was bored within minutes. It was surprising to her because this kind of thing would normally hold her attention quite easily. It might even excite her, but now, she found that she would rather be drawing something else. She didn't want to force herself to draw something that she wasn't into at the moment, knowing that it wouldn't turn out good, so she turned to a new page to start another drawing.

The girl who was sitting a few feet away from her began to take shape on the page, and Clarke found that she was much more into this subject matter. She tried to take discreet glances at the other girl so that she could get every last detail right, but she probably didn't even need to try to be discreet about it. Lexa was locked up in her own little world as she wrote.

Clarke could not keep the smile off of her face as she drew those beautiful cheekbones and that sharp jawline. She blushed as she began to fill in the plump curves of Lexa's lips. She had never really taken a chance to look at Lexa's lips before, but she now found herself wondering what it would be like to kiss them. She quickly pushed the thought aside, turning her focus back to her drawing. As she drew on, she found herself wishing that she were painting so that she might be able to capture the beautiful deep green of Lexa's eyes.

Clarke could have sat there all day, tweaking her drawing and adding to it. She just wanted it to be perfect. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn't even feel the wetness that was seeping into her clothes from the previously snow-covered surface that she was now sitting on. She didn't feel the icy wind that was nipping at her face either. All that existed for her was the page in front of her, but when Lexa finished her writing, Clarke quickly snapped the book shut. She took a picture of the scenery in front of her with her phone so that she could draw it at a later date, and then she got up to follow Lexa, who was beckoning to her without a word. The brunette was clearly still lost in whatever world she had been a part of for the last couple hours, so Clarke kept quiet as they walked, allowing the brunette to fully come back to this forest.

The blonde was surprised when Lexa finally turned to her, actually initiating conversation for once. "May I see how your drawing turned out?"

"Oh, um, I barely even started it," Clarke admitted, suddenly feeling rather nervous. "I, uh…I kind of got distracted drawing something else."

"Oh," Lexa said, blinking before continuing. "Well, can I see what you drew?"

Clarke flushed a bit, and she hoped that Lexa would think it was due to the cold. She was two seconds away from telling Lexa that she could not see the drawing because it was personal, but she stopped herself. If she showed Lexa the drawing, her feelings for the brunette would be pretty clear, and she would probably be able to determine whether or not Lexa had feelings for her as well. The brunette was giving Clarke an easy way to admit her feelings, and she was going to take it. So, she flipped through the pages of her sketchbook, opening to the one on which she had drawn Lexa. Then, she turned the book around so that Lexa could see, biting her lip without even realizing it.

Lexa's eyebrows shot up toward her hairline in surprise, and her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink as well. Clarke knew that it wasn't from the cold. "You drew me."

"Yes," Clarke answered simply, unsure of what else to say.

"Why?" Lexa asked, just as simply.

"Because you were very distracting to me. I think that you are very beautiful," Clarke said before she could stop herself, pausing for a moment before clarifying exactly what she meant. "I like you, Lexa."

Green eyes widened then, as Lexa realized what Clarke was saying, and the blonde turned her attention back to the path in front of her. She didn't want to see whatever emotions were running through the girl beside her for the fear that they might be bad ones. She was surprised by how much she wanted Lexa to like her back; she had never cared about any of her other crushes like this. If they didn't share her feelings, she moved on, and that was that. She wondered what it was about this girl, who she had only known for three days, that made her so special.

Clarke was pulled out of her thoughts by the feel of a mitten-covered hand slipping into her own mitten-covered hand. She turned to look at Lexa with surprise in her eyes, and she shivered when she saw the other girl's heated green gaze. She didn't dare to let herself hope, though, still fearing rejection, and she wondered if it were possible that Lexa was just taking her hand out of sympathy. The look in those green eyes said otherwise.

Blue and green remained locked together for several intense moments; neither could bring themselves to do more than just stare. Clarke felt like she was being sucked into a green whirlpool, and she wanted to drown. She knew that she should probably keep her eyes on the frozen path ahead, lest there be roots or frozen patches that she needed to avoid, but she didn't even care in that moment. She was content to wait as long as it took for Lexa to say something. A tiny smile graced Lexa's lips when she finally did speak, saying four little words that made Clarke's heart soar into the trees above them.

"I like you, too."

* * *

The two girls held hands all the way back to the cabin, and for the first time, Clarke was perfectly fine with being silent. She was too focused on the elation that she felt from just holding this girl's hand. It was stupid, really, the fluttery feeling that she got from this contact that wasn't even skin on skin. She had never felt this way with anyone before, and she marveled at the fact that she could feel this way about a girl she had hated only yesterday. It made her wonder if maybe she had never really hated her at all.

When they reached the cabin, they took off their coats and mittens, and Lexa got a fire going. Then, they just stood there awkwardly. Clarke wasn't sure what to say now that they each knew that they liked each other, and it seemed like Lexa wasn't either. Clarke would normally just blurt out the first thing that came to mind, but nothing was really coming to mind, so she just stood there, trying not to die of embarrassment. Lexa let out a long breath. "So…"

"So," Clarke repeated lamely, still unsure of what to say.

"You wanna watch TV and have dinner?" Lexa gestured to the couch behind her.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Clarke agreed.

The blonde wanted to kick herself for acting so awkward. She was always so smooth when it came to people that she was interested in, so she hated the fact that she was acting so shy now that it really mattered. She thought that it was probably the fact that this actually mattered to her that made her so shy. Or maybe it was the fact that she had never been with a girl before. Maybe, it was a mixture of both. No matter what the cause of it was, this shyness kept Clarke standing in the same position for several more seconds until she finally realized that she should probably be helping Lexa out with dinner.

She walked into the kitchen to see that Lexa was already opening up cans of chicken noodle soup. The brunette turned up to look at Clarke when she walked in. "I hope it's okay that I have one of your soups with you."

"It's fine." Clarke nodded. "Can I help you get it ready?"

"I think I can handle making soup by myself, Clarke," Lexa said with a chuckle. "It's not exactly hard. How about you go into the living room and pick something for us to watch on TV?"

Clarke nodded again and walked out into the living room, mentally chiding herself for asking such a ridiculous question. Of course, Lexa could make soup on her own. The brunette probably thought that Clarke found her to be dumb now. That was no way to go about trying to get a girl to like her. Clarke wondered why she even wanted to impress this girl anyway. There was a strong possibility that she would only be around Lexa for a few more days, so why was it so important to make sure that the brunette liked her? No matter how hard she thought about it, she just couldn't figure it out.

She tried to calm herself down a bit, pushing away her nerves. She liked Lexa, yes, but it didn't matter if Lexa didn't feel the same way about her. If Lexa decided that she didn't actually want to try to start something between the two of them, then it didn't matter because it didn't really make sense for them to start anything with each other anyway. At least, that's what Clarke told herself. She wasn't sure how much she actually believed it.

Once the Netflix screen was loaded, Clarke tried to distract herself with finding something that the two of them could watch. She had no idea what Lexa liked, so she just tried to find something that she would be okay with watching. When she came across _Supergirl_ , she decided that that would be a good choice because she had been hearing good things about it lately, so she pulled it up and waited for Lexa to return.

" _Supergirl_ , huh?" the brunette said upon seeing the screen.

"Yes," Clarke said when she received her bowl of soup. "Thank you."

The two of them ate in silence as the show played in front of them, and Clarke found herself feeling much less shy as she watched. The show was better than she had expected it to be, something she could definitely see herself continuing to watch, but she found herself more interested in the girl beside her once her soup was gone. She watched those tantalizing pink lips move as the other girl finished off her own soup, and suddenly, Clarke was leaning forward before she could stop herself, pulling the delicious pink flesh into her mouth.

Lexa tensed at first, and Clarke was so scared that the brunette was going to push her away, but she didn't. Instead, she returned the kiss, and Clarke knew that she had never felt this much spark during a kiss before. Lexa's lips were so soft, and her hands were so gentle when they tangled in Clarke's blond hair. Kissing Lexa felt amazing, and Clarke found herself never wanting to pull away. She had the urge to push Lexa down onto her back, wanting nothing more than to lie on top of the brunette, but she restrained herself. She didn't think that she was quite ready for anything like that.

When Lexa finally pulled away, Clarke opened her eyes to see green eyes swirling with emotion, a nice change from the normally impassive look that the other girl usually wore. Lexa didn't even try to hide the emotions, and Clarke was able to read the desire there, knowing that it was probably reflected in her own eyes, though probably not to the same degree. She wondered if her own eyes held even a fraction of what she now saw in Lexa's. She had never known that eyes could be so expressive.

Clarke smiled at the brunette warily. "Was that okay?" She already knew that Lexa had found it to be more than okay, but she wanted to hear the other girl say those words.

"That was fine, Clarke," Lexa said easily. "Did you like it?"

"God, yes," the blonde said immediately, surprising herself with how sure she was of that fact. "If I seem nervous, it's only because I've never slept with a girl before, so I—"

Lexa started laughing, and Clarke stopped talking, brows furrowed in confusion, silently prompting Lexa to explain what she had found to be so funny. "I don't expect you to sleep with me right now, Clarke. In fact, I don't expect you to sleep with me ever. I don't know what kind of relationships you've been in in the past, but in my experience, kissing someone does not mean that you are obligated to sleep with them." Lexa's tone turned more serious as she continued. "Look, if you want to sleep with me sometime soon, then we can sleep together, but if not, then that's fine, too."

Clarke couldn't help but smile at that. She had always hated it when people pressured her to have sex after their first date. Even the guys who didn't pressure her to have sex right off the bat had still wanted to sleep with her. Maybe not right away, but she had been able to tell that they had wanted it sooner rather than later. That's why it was so surprising to her that Lexa would not even care if the blonde never wanted to have sex with her. She wondered if maybe there was a reason for that, and her next words were falling out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Are you, like, asexual or something? Do you not want to sleep with me?"

"You are very blunt, aren't you?" A faint blush was coloring Lexa's cheeks. "Of course, I want to sleep with you, Clarke. I find you to be very attractive, but I would never want to do anything that might make you uncomfortable. Relationships are not all about sex to me, so I would not care if you were never comfortable sleeping with me. That would not make me want to end whatever it is that has just started blossoming between us."

"Thank you, Lexa," Clarke said sincerely. "I needed to hear that because no one's ever told me that before. You seem to be a really good person, so I don't want to end whatever has started blossoming between us either."

She was rewarded with a wide smile from Lexa, and this time, when she laid her head on Lexa's shoulder, the brunette girl did not jump away. Instead, she looped an arm around Clarke's waist to pull her closer, and Clarke sighed at the feeling of the other girl's warmth against her. Lexa draped the blanket over them again, and Clarke reached for the TV remote, backing the episode up to the scene where they had last been paying attention.


	5. Snowball War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday, everyone! I hope that you all had a great day and that this update will provide a nice end to it. Enjoy!

The next day, Lexa was already gone when Clarke woke up, which wasn't surprising. It was nearing noon, and the blonde knew by now that her cabinmate liked to hike in the mornings. The only morning that Lexa hadn't gone out for a hike had been the second day that Clarke had been there. She had gone at night instead, and Clarke knew exactly why that was. Lexa had wanted to stay out of the cabin at that time, in case Clarke decided to invite her friends over again, and the blonde couldn't say that she blamed her. She and her friends had been pretty rude to Lexa on that first night.

Clarke poured herself some cereal and sat down on the couch, finding it lonely without Lexa sitting beside her and no fire in the fireplace. The brunette always had a fire going when she was sitting on the couch, and Clarke liked it. The warm flames gave the cabin a homier feel. She thought about getting a fire going herself, but she decided not to since she would be meeting her friends in a half hour.

She wondered what Octavia and Raven had planned to do today, since she had not been there yesterday to plan it with them. Whatever it was, she couldn't help but feel that it would be way less fun than going hiking with Lexa. Or doing anything with Lexa, really. Clarke started to wish that she had asked Lexa if she could accompany her that morning, too. She knew that Lexa probably wouldn't want her along all the time, though. What the brunette was doing was really important to her, and she didn't need a constant distraction. Besides, Clarke was here to hang out with her friends, not Lexa. This was their getaway from school, and as much as she wanted to spend the rest of their limited time together with Lexa, she knew that she needed to give her friends some of her time, too, like she had originally planned.

As she got ready to go outside that morning, she reminded herself that she only had to make it through the day, and then she could spend the rest of her evening with Lexa. She was already looking forward to another night of cuddling on the couch.

* * *

Later that day, Clarke found herself outside in the cold, wet snow instead of hanging out in the warm, dry cabin. Her friends had decided that they could not possibly leave here without having a snowball war, and Raven had apparently decided that it would be more fun to have it in the forest. When Clarke asked her why, she just shrugged, saying that there would be trees and bushes to duck behind instead of just three small forts, and there would be much more room to run.

Clarke was bombarded with questions about her time with Lexa as they searched for a spot to set up their forts, and she brushed them off as best she could, saying that her cabinmate was actually really nice, now that she had gotten to know her. Soon enough, though, Clarke was saved from any further embarrassment when they stumbled across what Raven declared the perfect place. Once they each had a fort, snow was flying, and three college girls were being pelted with balls of white.

After a while, Raven landed a stinging blow to Clarke's cheek, and Clarke squealed at the feeling of the snow smacking against her. She immediately grabbed another snowball, chasing Raven through the forest, intent on getting her back. She was going to catch the girl, and she was going to make this one hurt. She got within good distance, and then she pelted the snowball so hard that she knew it would hurt.

To her dismay, Raven jumped out of the way at the last minute. That was impossible, though. Raven hadn't even seen her throw the snowball. Clarke's eyes widened a second later, and she realized why Raven had jumped so violently out of the way, when she watched the snowball slam hard into Lexa's chest. The brunette did not seem to be hurt by it, and Clarke didn't know whether to be relieved or discouraged that her throw had not been as hard as she thought it was going to be. She watched as surprised green eyes turned up to her.

"I was aiming for Raven, I swear," Clarke said quickly.

The look of surprise turned to one of challenge, and Clarke gulped, knowing exactly what was coming next. Lexa bent down to start making a snowball, and Clarke took off into the forest. She didn't know what the other girl planned to do, but she did know that she didn't want to be hit in the face again because that had hurt. She tried her best to stay ahead of the other girl, twisting and turning to try to lose her, but she could hear Lexa gaining on her.

"Truce! Truce!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran, but Lexa didn't seem to hear her.

The brunette kept coming, so Clarke kept running, hoping that the other girl might trip over a root or something. It seemed like karma was out to get her for hoping such a thing because no more than five seconds later, she was the one who was tripping over a tree root. She sprang back to her feet as quickly as she could, but Lexa was upon her before she could take off running again. The brunette grabbed Clarke around the waist to stop her from running off again, and then she smashed the snowball into Clarke's face, like a pie.

Clarke squealed, for the second time that day, at the burning cold feeling of the snow against her face. She quickly swatted the snow away as Lexa released her, scowling at the girl who was laughing at what she had done.

"You'll pay for that one, Lexa." Clarke dropped down to gather more snow.

Lexa grabbed onto her hand before she could even get ahold of a single flake, though, pulling Clarke to her feet, and the blonde let her.

"Truce?" Lexa asked when they were both upright, her face flushed from the cold, and maybe something else, and her lips parted. Clarke wanted nothing more than to pelt her cabinmate with endless snowballs, but she found that she couldn't refuse Lexa's peace offering as well as the brunette had hers, especially not when Lexa was looking at her like that.

Two sets of lips crashed together, and Clarke knew that Lexa got her answer in the way that the blonde began sucking hard on her lower lip. Lexa sucked just as hard, and Clarke turned her head to the side, deepening the kiss. She was surprised when Lexa's tongue brushed against her mouth, asking for entrance, which Clarke allowed immediately. Her own tongue poked in to tentatively explore Lexa's mouth, and she had to stop herself from moaning. As her fingers tangled in Lexa's hair, she suddenly felt hot in her heavy clothing, now that the two of them were sharing so much heat.

A surprised gasp sounded from somewhere, and Clarke reluctantly pulled away from Lexa after a few more seconds to see her friends staring at her with matching looks of shock. She had honestly forgotten that they were even in the forest with her, and she suddenly felt like that fish on _SpongeBob_ who was caught multiple times riding a tricycle and holding a lollipop.

"Uh, I can explain."

Raven didn't even give her the time to explain, already jumping to conclusions. "You and Lexa are dating?"

"We're not dating." Clarke could feel her face turning red. "We've only kissed once, well, twice now. We haven't even established what's going on between us yet, but I promise Lexa's much nicer than we originally thought."

"I suspected that she must be pretty cool yesterday when you decided to blow us off to hang out with her," Octavia said, and there was no bite in her tone. She was just stating a fact.

"Now, I see why you did that," Raven added. "I honestly couldn't figure out why you would want to hang out with anyone other than me because I'm awesome, but if you're fucking her, then—"

"Rae, please stop. We're not fucking." Clarke knew that she would be dead by now if utter mortification could kill her.

"Okay, okay." Raven put her hands up in surrender, and Clarke sighed in immense relief.

"Well, since you obviously care about this girl, I think that we should at least properly introduce ourselves. I'm Octavia, and this is Raven." She gestured to the girl behind her, who gave a small wave. "I'm really sorry about the little party we threw on our first night here, but I hope you're willing to give us a second chance, like you've clearly done for Clarke. Or at least, give me a second chance. The party was all Clarke and Raven's idea. I only went along with it because they're my friends, and I was outnumbered."

"You're forgiven, Octavia," Lexa said with a smile. "It's nice to properly meet both of you."

"Wanna join the snowball war?" Raven offered. "You and Clarke against me and O?"

Lexa nodded slowly, but Clarke could see the puzzled look on her face. She was trying to figure something out, although Clarke had no idea what. She didn't think that Raven had said anything even remotely confusing. She poked her cabinmate in the stomach. "What is it?"

"Why do you call it a snowball war?" Lexa asked curiously.

Clarke was about to answer, but Octavia beat her to it. "Because these two goofballs thought that 'snowball war' sounded much cooler than 'snowball fight.' Don't worry, though. You can be on my team. Sane people against the crazies."

Both Clarke and Raven pouted at being called crazy, and Clarke held onto Lexa's hand, but she already knew by the smirk on Lexa's face that the brunette was not going to be on her team.

"Okay," Lexa said in response to Octavia.

Clarke huffed and let go of the hand that she had been holding, grabbing some snow along with everyone else and shaping it into a snowball. She would just have to make sure to annihilate Lexa's team to get back at her. When Raven gave the signal, cawing like a raven, snow began flying once more.

* * *

That night, Clarke was sitting in bed, working on her drawing of the view from the mountainside when she heard a knock on the door. It was late, and she had been about to start getting ready for bed, but she got up to answer the door anyway. She wondered what Lexa could possibly want. They had already spent the evening together.

All rational thought flew out of her mind when she opened the door to see Lexa standing there with her hair wet from the shower. Clarke tried to keep the lust from her eyes, but she didn't think that she was entirely successful. It seemed like she found wet hair to be incredibly sexy, and she was just now figuring that out.

Clarke was finally able to shake these thoughts away when she noticed that Lexa looked nervous. She hadn't seen the brunette nervous since she had admitted her feelings for Clarke, and the blonde was instantly curious as to what was making her cabinmate feel that way now. Clarke nodded to her to go ahead and say whatever it was that she had come here to say, and she scuffed her foot against the ground. "I just wanted to say goodnight. I had a great time with you and your friends tonight."

Clarke found that to be an odd thing to say because couldn't Lexa have told her that when they were watching TV? However, the only thing that Clarke could think of to say in return was, "You're going to bed with your hair wet?"

She wanted to smack herself in the forehead for asking such a stupid question, even though she really did wonder. She always blow-dried her hair shortly after a shower, her blond locks already dry from her shower an hour earlier.

Clarke was relieved when Lexa didn't seem to mind her random question. "Yes, I am not a fan of the blow dryer. Nor do I particularly mind sleeping with wet hair."

Clarke shook her head in amusement, her eyebrows raising. "You're weird."

"No, you're the weird one," Lexa immediately shot back with a teasing grin.

Clarke just stuck out her tongue. The two then devolved into a semi-awkward silence. Or rather, it was awkward to Clarke. Lexa didn't seem to be bothered by it at all, still wearing her teasing grin. Clarke finally got her thoughts together enough to figure out what it was that she should have said the first time. "I had a great time today, too."

"Have you thought about what happens after this weekend is over?" Lexa looked nervous again. "I would really like to continue to pursue whatever is developing between us, as I said last night, and that means even after we leave here."

"Yeah. I would as well," Clarke said without hesitation. "Where are you from?"

"I live here in Polis," Lexa answered. "You?"

"Arkadia. Not too bad. Only two hours away."

"We'll be together at school, though," Lexa pointed out.

Clarke looked at this girl with a mixture of shock and hope. Was it possible that Lexa went to Polis, too? "You go to Polis University? And how the hell did you know that I go there, too?"

"I do." Lexa nodded. "The school does own these cabins."

Clarke's mouth fell open at the news, wondering how on earth she didn't know that, and Lexa only laughed. "These cabins were made for the students at Polis to rent out during winter break. I mean, I guess you don't _have_ to be a student to rent one, but surely you must have seen the flyers at school."

Lexa was right. She had seen advertisements for these cabins a lot at school, but she had never stopped to read them. She had always thought that the school was advertising for someone else, or that someone else had been putting the flyers up. Her face broke out in a grin at the news. "I am so happy to hear that right now that I don't even care that I didn't know it before. Looks like we'll be seeing each other again a lot more than we thought."

"And a lot sooner," Lexa added. "What year are you?"

"Junior," Clarke answered easily. "Please tell me you're not a senior."

Lexa just shook her head. "I am a junior as well."

Their conversation dwindled off then, but Clarke didn't even care this time. She was too overjoyed to even think about it. She had thought that she might never see Lexa again after this, but now she had been informed that she would be seeing her pretty much every day, and she couldn't help but feel like she was floating. Lexa cleared her throat then, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "Would you like to sleep in my room tonight?"

The blonde was a bit taken aback at the question, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. She honestly hadn't been expecting that invitation for quite some time yet, and she wondered what exactly it entailed. She didn't want to do anything that she would soon regret, and she was glad when Lexa was quick to explain herself. "We don't have to do anything more than share a bed. Clothes will stay on."

Just like that, the wariness was gone from blue eyes, and Clarke found herself smiling again. "In that case, I would love to join you."

Lexa smiled as well. "Come over when you're ready."

It took all that Clarke had to tear her eyes away from the retreating figure and get herself ready for bed. She knew that the faster she brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas, the faster she could be around Lexa again. The faster she could be in Lexa's arms again.

When Clarke actually got to Lexa's room, though, she found herself feeling rather awkward, and she couldn't bring herself to slip into Lexa's arms like she had originally planned. Instead, she lied down on her side of the bed, trying to get comfortable, although she was disappointed in herself. If she would've looked, she would've seen that Lexa was disappointed, too.

The two girls lied there in the dark, neither one falling asleep because of their need to be touching the girl that was lying beside them. As they tossed and turned to get more comfortable, they gravitated to the middle of the bed without even knowing it. Before they even realized what was going on, Clarke's head was lying on Lexa's chest, and Lexa's arms were wrapping around Clarke's waist. Both girls sighed in the collective relief that they felt as they cuddled into each other, and Clarke smiled wider still when she felt a kiss being pressed to the top of her head as she finally drifted off to sleep.


	6. Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have reached the final chapter of the story! Thank you to everyone who has bookmarked or left comments or kudos on this little short story, and thank you all for taking the time to read it. You guys are very awesome, and I hope that you enjoy the ending! Happy New Year, Clexakru! <3

The next morning, Clarke was awoken by the feel of hair brushing against her cheek. She knew that it could very well have been her own, but her intuition told her that it wasn't, and her eyes sprang open. She instantly relaxed when she saw Lexa, remembering that she had fallen asleep in the brunette's room last night. She pulled back to look at the beautiful girl's face, still peaceful with sleep, and she found that she wanted nothing more than to snuggle further into Lexa and remain in bed all day. However, she knew she couldn't because it was Christmas, and she wanted to spend the day with Octavia and Raven. It would be weird not celebrating Christmas with her family this year, but she would see them when she got back home tomorrow, and they could celebrate then.

Today, she would be going over to her friends' cabin for their annual Christmas party. This party had taken place on Christmas Eve ever since it had started seven years ago, but it was taking place on Christmas this year, and Clarke was excited. She always loved going to her friends' Christmas party, not even because they did anything that was particularly exciting, but simply because she loved being able to spend the holiday with her friends.

Clarke quietly slipped out of bed so as not to wake the still-sleeping brunette, heading downstairs to eat some breakfast. She expected to see Lexa coming down the stairs shortly after her because she knew that Lexa didn't really sleep in long, but it was only when Clarke was rinsing out her bowl that Lexa made an appearance. She stood in the kitchen doorway, rubbing her eye with her fist, hair wild from sleep, and Clarke didn't think that she had ever looked more adorable.

The blonde couldn't help herself from closing the distance between them, in order to place a kiss on Lexa's lips. She wished that she could press Lexa back against the wall and turn the kiss heated, but she didn't want to start anything when she knew that she had to leave. If the two girls had another make-out session like the one that they had yesterday in the snow, Clarke didn't think that she could tear herself away from Lexa to meet Octavia and Raven at all.

"I'm heading over to Octavia and Raven's cabin today," Clarke said. "We're having a little Christmas party. You want to come?"

"No thanks," Lexa said casually. "I'll be fine here."

Clarke knew that something was wrong in the way that Lexa didn't state that she had anything else to do. If she had said that she had a lot of writing to do or she needed to go for a hike first, Clarke would've just let her be. But Lexa didn't have anything else to do today.

Clarke was puzzled because Lexa had seemed to enjoy hanging out with Octavia and Raven the day before. She'd even told the blonde so. Besides, Lexa was refusing to look at her, and Clarke knew that she was hiding something.

"Are you okay, Lexa?" Clarke asked, blunt as always. "You're acting a little…off."

"I am fine, Clarke. Go hang out with your friends." Green eyes did not rise from the floor.

"Lexa, you shouldn't spend Christmas by yourself," Clarke argued.

"I need some time to myself, Clarke." Lexa swallowed thickly, trying her best to blink back her impending tears. "My mother died eleven years ago today, and I would like to be left alone with my thoughts for a while."

Clarke felt her heart breaking in her chest at this new revelation, and she wished that what she had just heard wasn't true. "Your mom died on Christmas?"

"Yes." Lexa nodded, lips quivering. "I don't really like to talk about it, and I normally spend my Christmases alone or with my sister. I am used to it, but maybe someday, I will be ready to spend the day with you. Just…not yet."

Clarke opened her arms, offering Lexa the only comfort that she could, and the brunette sank into her, allowing her silent tears to flow down her cheeks as she clutched tightly to the other girl's sweater. Clarke rubbed soothing circles on Lexa's back, hoping to make her cabinmate feel just a little bit better. "I'm so sorry, Lexa."

Lexa let out a shaky sigh. "It's okay, Clarke."

"It's not," Clarke argued immediately.

"No," Lexa agreed, "but it is starting to feel better now that you're here."

Clarke smiled at the admission, happy that she could help Lexa simply by being around. Lexa liked her for exactly who she was, and she thought that she never wanted to let Lexa go. She hoped that the two of them might still be doing whatever it was they were doing when next Christmas rolled around. Maybe they would even be in a relationship by then. She could definitely see that happening, if all continued to go well for the two of them. She wondered how many Christmases it would take for Lexa to be ready to spend the day with Clarke. The blonde knew that she would wait as many as it took.

When Clarke finally released Lexa, she wiped the remaining tears from the girl's cheeks before looking into green eyes with serious blue ones. "You sure you want me to go?"

Lexa only nodded. "I will see you tonight, Clarke. I should be in better spirits by then."

After placing another kiss on Lexa's lips, Clarke finally obeyed the brunette's wish, no matter how much she wished that she didn't have to.

* * *

When Clarke got back from Octavia and Raven's cabin, she was proud to say that she had not consumed a drop of alcohol. She hadn't even known that they were bringing alcohol, especially since the two of them were still underage. She suspected, though, that Octavia's older brother, Bellamy, had been the one to get it for them. Even though Clarke had been twenty-one for two months now, she refrained from drinking tonight because she knew that she had a hard time stopping once she started. She didn't want to be drunk for Lexa tonight, didn't want the brunette to have to waste her time taking care of Clarke after a day of mourning. She also didn't want to embarrass herself, and Lexa, more than she probably already had in the past few days. She wanted to be perfectly sober when she gave Lexa the gift that she had meticulously chosen for her. She thought that it was perfect, and she hoped that Lexa would like it.

She returned to her cabin to find Lexa sitting on the couch, just staring into the fire. She looked incredibly lonely, and Clarke suddenly felt a fierce determination rise within her to prove to Lexa that she was not alone.

Walking up behind Lexa, Clarke wrapped her arms around the other girl's shoulders, bringing Lexa out of her head and alerting her to the blonde's presence. Lexa's face broke out into a smile at the sight of Clarke, and she looked almost relieved to see the blonde. Clarke supposed that it must mean that Lexa's time of mourning was done for another year. Clarke thought about bringing up the subject of Lexa's mourning since the brunette had looked so sad only moments ago, but she could tell that Lexa just wanted to move on to something else. When Lexa tilted her head up for a kiss, Clarke easily obliged, leaning down to press her lips to the other girl's.

"Sorry it took me so long to get back," Clarke said when she had pulled away. "I meant to have dinner with you, but I ended up having it with Octavia and Raven."

"It's fine, Clarke," Lexa assured her, standing from the couch. "I was not expecting you back at any set time. I am just glad that you are here now."

Clarke smiled, but she suddenly felt herself go shy, biting her lip. She knew that this was the perfect opportunity to say what she needed to say, but she couldn't get the words out of her mouth. Normally, she had no problem saying exactly what was on her mind, usually just blurting it out without her actual conscious consent. Not this time, though. She supposed that this was because, no matter how long and hard she had thought about this, she still wasn't one hundred percent sure that it was what she wanted. Ninety-nine percent would have to be enough.

"Today, when I was over with my friends, I realized that I had gotten them both gifts, but I didn't get anything for you."

"You don't have to get me anything," Lexa argued. "You couldn't have possibly planned on developing feelings for your cabinmate when you were packing for your vacation. Of course, you didn't get me anything."

"Well, I still want to give you something, if you'll have it." Clarke was wringing her hands nervously in front of her.

"Okay." Lexa had a curious look in her green eyes now.

"I want to give myself to you," Clarke said immediately, not giving herself a second to think it over, just in case she tried to chicken out.

Lexa looked taken aback. "Are you sure, Clarke? I don't want you to feel pressured to do anything you're not ready for just because you didn't buy me a gift."

"I'm sure." Clarke nodded to prove her point. "I'm ready, and I want to do this."

Suddenly, Lexa was the one looking nervous, and Clarke found it adorable the way that Lexa shifted from foot to foot, seemingly no longer able to stand comfortably. "So, do you want to do it on the couch by the fire or upstairs? I offer my bed."

"Upstairs," Clarke said without thinking, wanting the two of them to have plenty of room.

Lexa reached out for Clarke's hand, and the blonde easily gave it, allowing Lexa to pull her up the stairs. All she could focus on was the warmth of the brunette's hand in hers and the deafening sound of her own heart beating in her ears. She wondered if Lexa could hear it.

Somehow, Lexa was able to sense Clarke's overwhelming nerves because she pressed Clarke up against the wall before they could even make it to the bedroom, connecting their lips. Clarke instantly relaxed at the feeling. This was familiar. This she could do without a problem. She ran her fingers across Lexa's back before dipping under the hem of Lexa's shirt, having no problem with this part of things. Guys had backs; girls had backs. No different. Yet it was. Lexa's back was softer than any back that she had ever felt before.

As she moved her lips against Lexa's, she barely even noticed that the brunette was removing her shirt, lost in the kiss, like Lexa wanted her to be. She followed suit, removing the brunette's own shirt before pushing her into the bedroom and towards the bed. However, right before they reached it, Lexa spun them around, and suddenly it was Clarke who was lying out on her back, Lexa on top of her.

"Why do you get to be on top?" Clarke tried to shove Lexa off of her.

Lexa winked down at her. "Because I'm the one with the experience."

"Oh, really?" Clarke teased, raising an eyebrow. "Show me."

She was surprised by just how quickly Lexa did show her, disposing of her black bra in no time and kneading her breasts while continuing the kiss. She didn't stop to stare at the blonde's breasts or make a remark on how big they were, like everyone Clarke had ever been with before. Lexa barely even seemed to notice their size. Clarke only knew that she noticed by the growl that she let out. The blonde whined when Lexa's mouth pulled away from hers, her protests cut off by a moan when the brunette pulled a nipple into her mouth, swirling her tongue around it to harden it into a pebble. Clarke arched her back, gripping the sheets when Lexa moved to the other one. The blonde's hips thrusted up involuntarily, her core starting to ache from how worked up Lexa was already getting her, and she knew that she wanted Lexa in between her legs now.

"Lexa," Clarke called, and Lexa did not even hesitate to look up, stilling her motions just in case Clarke was going to tell her to stop. This only made Clarke more sure that she was doing the right thing. She wasn't going to tell Lexa to stop. "Please just touch me."

"Already? You sure?"

Clarke only nodded, and Lexa slid her fingers down, pushing Clarke's pants and underwear down her legs so that the blonde could kick them off. Thankfully, Lexa didn't tease as she pushed a finger into Clarke's entrance. Green eyes immediately shot up to Clarke's face. "Is this okay?"

Clarke playfully rolled her eyes, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't say that I've never had sex before, just that I've never slept with a girl. I'm used to having dicks inside of me, Lexa, so your one little finger doesn't bother me."

Lexa blushed at the realization, but she was surely not made shy, not hesitating to push three fingers inside of the blonde. Clarke moaned loudly at the feel of Lexa stretching her out, and she instantly started thrusting her hips to meet Lexa's motions. When the brunette's mouth returned to her breasts, Clarke clutched tightly to Lexa's back, raking her nails down it as Lexa did glorious things to her nipples. She would normally hope that Lexa didn't mind the marks, but her mind was too clouded right now for her to care.

Once Lexa's thumb came up to rub Clarke's clit, the blonde was a goner, screaming Lexa's name as she entered the hardest orgasm that anyone had ever given her. Clarke didn't even realize that Lexa was helping her ride out her orgasm until her body had stilled, and Lexa pulled her fingers out, wiping them on the sheets beside her. "How did I do?"

"You were amazing," Clarke answered truthfully.

"Do you want to rest for a little bit?" Lexa asked.

Clarke shook her head. "I'm fine. I want to see you now."

She growled as she rolled on top of Lexa, happy that the brunette let her. While Lexa had given her what was probably the best orgasm that she'd ever had, Clarke preferred the feeling of pinning Lexa to the bed rather than being the one who was pinned. She clumsily removed Lexa's bra so that their naked chests pressed together before pulling back to work at Lexa's breasts like the brunette had done hers. For an embarrassing second, she just stared at the soft mounds of flesh. None of her previous sexual partners had had those before. Then, she shook her head, moving her hands to massage Lexa's breasts, just like she had felt Lexa do to hers. She hoped it felt as pleasurable to Lexa as it had to her.

"You'll let me know if I hurt you, right?" Clarke asked warily.

"Of course, Clarke," Lexa gasped.

Only then did Clarke feel comfortable kissing the girl again, now that she had the assurance that she would be told the moment she did something to hurt the brunette. She really hoped that she didn't hurt her, but she could never be too careful. She kept up the massaging and kissing, opening her mouth so that her tongue and Lexa's could battle for dominance, telling herself that she just wanted to take her time. That was a lie, though. She was slightly afraid to touch Lexa for fear that she would not be half as good as Lexa was for her. If she could even figure out how, that was.

When Lexa began whining into her mouth, Clarke knew that the brunette needed her lower. She thought about teasing the girl, but Lexa hadn't done that to her, and Clarke wanted this to go as perfectly as possible. She let her hand travel lower, popping the button of Lexa's jeans open and unzipping them to slip her hand into the other girl's underwear. She moaned when she cupped Lexa's wet sex, but then Lexa was speaking. "Take them off. I don't want any clothes on."

Clarke was glad for the delay of the inevitable, even if it wasn't a long one, taking her time to slide the pants and underwear down Lexa's long legs before flinging them onto the floor. Then, she moved her hand back to Lexa's sex, flushing a deep scarlet as she looked down at Lexa. "I don't know exactly where to…"

Green eyes filled with surprise. "You've never touched yourself before?"

Clarke shook her head, biting her lip shyly and averting her eyes. She was suddenly feeling slightly incompetent, and she wondered if maybe this had been a mistake. Lexa must have caught the look in blue eyes because she was quick to assure Clarke that it wasn't. "Hey, it's okay. I'll help you."

Lexa grabbed onto Clarke's wrist, and the blonde held a finger out. "I just need help finding your entrance. After that, I think I can figure out what to do."

Lexa nodded and shoved Clarke's finger into herself. Clarke was surprised how soft Lexa felt inside as she thrust all the way in, and the moan that Lexa let out was even better. Clarke knew that she wanted to hear Lexa make many more sounds like that.

"Do you want me to use three fingers, too?" Clarke asked before even daring to add another.

"Two is fine," Lexa told her. "Three is too much for me."

Clarke added one more finger and began thrusting in and out of the girl below her, Lexa's hips thrusting in rhythm with her hand. Clarke began to go faster when Lexa started moaning incredibly loud, much louder than Clarke had been, and the blonde found it to be a wonderful sound. She decided to keep her mouth away from Lexa's, not wanting to muffle the beautiful moans, instead moving to kiss the girl's neck. She tried not to suck too hard, not wanting to leave a hickey in case her cabinmate didn't like them, but she didn't know how successful she had been at that. Not when she was so turned on by every sound that came out of Lexa's mouth.

Clarke's thumb fumbled around then in her search for Lexa's clit, but she knew that she had found it when Lexa let out a particularly loud moan. She began rubbing it, just like Lexa had done to hers, keeping up her thrusts as she drove Lexa up to her high.

When Lexa came, she screamed Clarke's name louder than anyone ever had before, and Clarke helped her ride out her orgasm as she slowly came down from her high. Clarke didn't exactly know when to stop so she just kept pumping in and out until Lexa's hand fell to her wrist to stop her. She pulled her fingers out from where they had been buried between Lexa's legs and instantly sucked them clean, causing Lexa to emit one last moan.

Wearing a satisfied smirk, Clarke moved up the length of Lexa's beautiful body to lie out beside her, head propped up on her arm. "You're really loud."

Lexa's cheeks tinged pink. "I can't help it."

Clarke leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Well, I loved it."

Lexa shivered, letting out a wide yawn when Clarke pulled back, and the blonde was glad that she had successfully pulled Lexa out of the sorrow that she had been feeling earlier. She poked her cabinmate's side playfully. "You tired?"

"A bit, yes," Lexa admitted. "You may be inexperienced, but you give great orgasms."

Clarke tried her best to keep the blush off her cheeks, instead going for a smirk. "I guess we should probably go to bed then."

Lexa rolled her eyes at Clarke's smugness, and the blonde turned more serious. "We can cuddle."

Lexa smiled at the mention of cuddling, and she nodded before promptly turning away from Clarke. The blonde was confused for a moment because Lexa had turned away from her only seconds after saying that she wanted to cuddle. Then, it all clicked for her. Lexa wanted to spoon. She wanted to be the little spoon. Clarke found that to be so adorable that she couldn't even find it in her to tease the other girl. Instead, she just moved to wrap an arm around her slim waist, burrowing her face into the girl's messy brown hair. Clarke had never been the big spoon before, and she instantly figured out why she had never really liked spooning. She didn't like to be the little spoon, but being the big spoon felt good. Or maybe it was just being with Lexa that felt good.

"Merry Christmas," she murmured as she kissed the back of the brunette's neck.

"Merry Christmas, Clarke." The blonde could tell by the tone of Lexa's voice that she was smiling.

When Clarke had first booked a cabin with a complete stranger, she had never thought that she would be lying naked in bed with said stranger before the end of her stay. Yet this felt so right. Everything about Lexa felt so right, and Clarke wondered how she could possibly have developed such strong feelings for this girl so quickly. She had never felt this much for anyone before, and she knew that she never wanted to give up on Lexa.

"I know it's weird," she said into the darkness, "but I think that I might be starting to fall for you."

Clarke's eyes widened the moment that she had said it, wishing that she could shove all of the words back into her mouth. Were they even true? Was it really possible for her to be starting to fall for this girl that she had only known for six days now? Her mind told her that it couldn't be possible, but she knew that it was. She knew that it was the truth. If she and Lexa kept up this thing that was developing between them, it was quite possible that Clarke would want to be exclusive with Lexa someday that was not as far off as she would've originally thought.

She knew that she needed to work on keeping things to herself, especially things like this because Lexa still had yet to answer. She wondered if she had gone too far. She wondered if the brunette was rethinking ever starting anything with Clarke in the first place. She suddenly wished that she wasn't spooning Lexa so that she might be able to read the look on her face. However, all she could do was lie there and wait for the girl in her arms to respond, hoping that she hadn't just gone and messed everything up.

"I don't think that's weird at all, Clarke," Lexa finally replied, "because I'm falling, too."


End file.
